1st Birthday Party Ideas

 My daughter Abrielle has reached her first year. And as proud Mom, I would say that I painstakingly waited for this milestone and for months I have pondered upon how my family is going to celebrate her big day.  I personally wanted Abrielle to have a simple birthday party. I wanted to celebrate it with a few of our close friends who have witnessed how our family blossomed.  My hubby let me plan the whole thing. I guess he trusted me enough to make final decisions from the theme of the party down to what Abrielle was going to wear. Three choices topped the birthday theme. I wanted her birthday to be bright and colorful, so I had the candyland, princess and under the sea themes in mind. I knew she wouldn't be able to remember the occasion but I want to make sure she would have a photo album that captures her first birthday celebration.
 In the end, I  chose the candy land theme. I realized that using the  princess theme party would be too extravagant and too early for her. Well, she is our princess. And maybe in the future when she's much older or in preschool, She would have Princess birthday theme party. The Under the Sea theme was also part of the choices because my baby shows fascination with fish and water so I figured I could use it as a theme for her birthday.  With it, I would probably end up using more of the color blue instead of rainbow colors which I thought would bring more party spirit and positivity. Hence, I chose the Candy land Theme instead.

         Next in the planning, I need to resolve where we could hold the party. I initially thought our house could be one choice since we have a big lawn and I would decorate the garden with little pieces to resemble a candy land. My hubby interjected that we could use our Parish Hall for the venue instead of our own abode. In that case, we did not have to worry about the tables and chairs. Plus, there will be enough room for our guests to socialize and mingle. I could have an area where the kids and small children can play games separate from the teenagers. I agreed with my hubby and it turned out that our Parish hall was indeed the perfect setting for the event.
 

 I would like to share some ideas on how I decorated (with my hubby's help) the venue to make it look bright and resembled a candy land. I opted to use pompoms with different colors instead of balloons. We hung the pompoms overhead the area in the middle where you could see the dessert table. My husband came up with lollipop candies using paper plates of different colors and we used bamboo skewers as sticks. I also asked one of my colleagues to make a welcome sign with a birthday greeting.









 She did a terrific job with decorating it and when it was finished, it highlighted the dessert table as well. I added a walk path in the middle of the hall leading to the dessert bar using construction papers of various colors. I taped them on the floor and it added additional beauty to the bar. I also included lollipop sticks as part of the centerpieces accentuating the table. On each table, I scattered some candies and small colored papers containing special information about my daughter. I cut them in small sizes so as not to appear messy on the table.  I am going to post pictures to show you how the entire hall was decorated.

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